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Can Obama End Brotherhood of the Sagging Pants?
It's possible: JFK killed the hat
By Katherine Thompson
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Posted Nov 14, 08 11:20 AM CST
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(Newser)
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Fashion experts have their eyes on Barack Obama with a burning question: Can he inspire the young men of America to pull up their pants? The president-elect himself has said it's time to end the low-ride movement, and some have trotted out the (disputed) comparison of JFK single-handedly killing the hat industry. Clyde Haberman of the New York Times makes the rounds and finds there's at least some hope for change on the pants front.
"Everybody’s looking at him all the time," says one fashion author. "That means they’re going to absorb" Obama's style. “It’s very clear that what a president wears has an impact on the population,” agrees a sociology professor. But one skeptic notes that the so-called prison look is probably on the wane anyway. He adds that if Obama can do something about the short-sleeves-short-pants trend in suits, that would be a true "test of his influence."